UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery receives reports on restoration progress

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former United States President Bill Clinton, is attending two meetings in New York today, including one at which leading U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will present a series of reports on lessons learned from their recovery work.

At the second meeting, President Clinton is expected to address a key initiative to conserve coastal ecosystems in the Asian region impacted by the 2004 tsunami which killed more than 230,000 people and affected more than 12 countries in Asia.

Addressing a meeting of the Global Consortium on Tsunami Recovery this past April Mr. Clinton said recovery efforts were reaching their most challenging phase, “as governments implement longer term reconstruction and economic development efforts.

“There is substantial progress to report in areas like home and school construction and a welcome rebound in tourist arrivals but we still face formidable challenges, from addressing the housing needs of displaced persons, to increasing timber supplies without endangering forests, to addressing the remaining $100 million funding gap in the Maldives,” he added.